King's Lynn Plus

Well if we have one problematic weekend this year, then I guess rather this one than WASH, but even so……last minute problems with the venue meant we didn’t even know until the day before whether this event would go ahead, but all resolved just in time and a great weekend followed.

Rather than all posts being written by the same person, I’m using exceprts from a posting from the “one-list”, which is the National Plus forum, to give another person’s point of view – this is written by “Biggles” from Fareham group:

“This weekend very nearly got cancelled at the last minute due to a legal wangle between the local village council and the contractor who laid the grass where we would normally erect our tents! Fortunately, some fast thinking and even faster
strimming action by intrepid KL Plus members ensured that we were able to break through into uncharted camping lands in the middle of the local woodlands (even though at night it felt more like the Blair Witch woods….)

By the time the rest of us Plussers turned up, all arrangements had been made and we settled in to setting up our tents in a more scenic setting than normal!

Friday night was fairly relaxed, well, for us anyway….. The poor pub just down the road didn’t quite know what hit it, I think their normal Friday night crowd would have been a couple of regulars and a dog – not the 20 or so Plussers who
all turned up at once wanting meals and a few drinkies! Still, Their bar staff rose to the occasion magnificently and we all got served eventually! After a few hours of that, it was time to go back to the village hall and grove the rest
of the night away to karaoke provided by Excalibur Roadshow (Adam Redshaw) til about midnight and then sat around chatting, drinking and chilling till the sky started to lighten up again.

Saturday morning was a bit delayed, I think the woodland setting made the tents a bit darker for longer – so we were not dragged out this year by the hot sun bearing down directly! About 10am enough of us had surfaced to make going to
the pub for breakfast viable – although once again we overwhelmed the staff who didn’t have enough in stock for 15 or so hungry people – The poor landlord had to make a quick trip to Tesco in a hurry! lol!

Saturday afternoon found members attending National Rounders in King’s Lynn – I am reliable informed that one team won and the other came second…

Saturday evening found the fires being stoked for the traditional BBQ, Having been to Tesco’s ourselves earlier, we were well supplied with meat products and the King’s Lynn group supplied the salad and buns! Such a yummy feast was had by all.

Later that night found some people winning the endless raffle (I swear theremust have been dozens of prizes!!!) although the numbers were only coming up for Chris Porter and Serena Horsewell! How many redraws can one couple have????

The rest of the night passed with a large number of us just sat outside the hall around a fire-pit (BBQ with no food on!) for several hours just chatting, drinking and chilling out.  The fire was very watchable! Those who spent time on the dance floor seemed to enjoy themselves just as much! I understand that some members managed to stay around the fire till about 4am.

Sunday morning found us up around 9am packing our tents away and eventually departing (after everyone helped out cleaning up the hall and its surrounds!) A short detour to the local burger van was made (We gave the pub landlady a
break!) and I can recommend their double cheeseburger!

Thanks again to King’s Lynn group, Hope to see some of you at Scalextric’s in a months time and the rest of you at WASH 2010!”

Thanks to Biggles for the review and it was good to see that the alternative camping arrangements went down so well – some people are even talking about camping in the woods again next year!

Christine T

SADY – stands for Summer at Dalesbridge, Yorkshire – basically a weekend near Settle in Yorkshire, either camping or in dormitories, with evening entertainment and daytime walks planned.  No-one from Kings Lynn group has gone before, but I thought I’d give it a go!

I arrived about 8.30ish in evening to pitch my tent – luckily a pop-up affair,  so up and “furnished” in time to head to the pub for a pizza with friends, much to Corinna’s (organiser) disgust as she was busily trying to convince everyone to go into the room for karaoke, which just isn’t my sort of thing (s0rry Corinna!).  A mix up at the pub resulted in a larger than ordered pizza which was quickly snapped up when I got back to the site with it.  Dancing to the disco then lots of chatting and catching up with people resulted and the late night was inevitable.

Morning time saw some cooking their own breakfast, some heading to the catering van over the road, then a short drive to the start of the days walk, and a chance to go buy a sandwich in the local shop to take with us for lunch.  The weather was excellent, the route steep in places and surely more than the 5 miles we had been promised by Francis, or maybe I’m just stupidly unfit!  Quote of the weekend was I think from Geoff – who when Francis warned us to be carefuly of the orchids in the field replied with “why – are they dangerous?”!!

Saturday evening saw us fed by Richard’s curry which was very tasty, and entertainment was a duo singing to a backing track – then disco with DJ Gary from Brean – a good chance to work off the stiffness in the legs from the walk – and no aches the next morning either!

Another walk on Sunday, although as it fell on the same day as the World Cup Final, we were under pressure to get back to the pub in time for the match…..the walk once again took us through some stunning countryside including a waterfall that we had to go through a pub to get to, and some more very steep hills.  Once strange part was walking through someone’s back garden, complete with washing on the line (attached to the footpath signpost) as part of the route!  The view was certainly worth the hill climb.  Back to the pub just in time for the football, and the non-footie fans (ok, just a few of us) went for a bite to eat at a tea-room and a wander around the town of Hawes – the home of Wensleydale cheese.

Back to site and after a bite to eat we listened to a very talented guy with an accoustic guitar – a refreshing change and I could have listened to him all night. 

Sunday morning and time to pack up and head home – all in all a great weekend, made brilliant by some excellent weather.  Definitely to be recommended!

Christine T